


make the yuletide bright

by purplefennels7



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Christmas Decorations, Christmas Fluff, M/M, Snow, so much of it everyone is finally happy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-26
Updated: 2018-12-26
Packaged: 2019-09-27 16:04:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,214
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17165012
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/purplefennels7/pseuds/purplefennels7
Summary: Stephen mentions that he doesn't really do much for Christmas and just because of that, Tony's holding his annual Christmas party in the Sanctum. He didn't mention that he was putting up a tree that goes through both stories of the building and more coloured lights than Stephen knows what to do with, but honestly he should've expected something like that because he is dating Tony Stark and that's what he does. Stephen doesn't really mind, especially because he gets to kiss Tony under the mistletoe as much as he wants.





	make the yuletide bright

**Author's Note:**

> it is technically still christmas for me......i totally didn't procrastinate writing it until this morning. merry christmas loves!!

Stephen walks through the front door of the Sanctum with a couple shopping bags hooked over his arm, and stops short when he finds his boyfriend dragging half of an enormous tree up the stairs, aided by a few nanobots boosting the bottom of the trunk upwards.

“Hey, babe, you’re home,” Tony calls, levering the tree upright at the top of the staircase before catapulting down them to press a kiss to the side of Stephen’s mouth. His face falls a little when he registers the dumbstruck look on Stephen’s face.

“Too much?” he asks. Stephen shakes himself and leans down to kiss Tony for real, waving his free hand to levitate the shopping bags into the kitchen.

“No, it’s just...a lot to take in. You did all this yourself?” Stephen asks, looking around him for the first time at the colourful lights strung around the main foyer of the Sanctum and, of course, the (currently unlit) tree standing right in the middle of the room. Wong is going to have a fit when he gets back from Kamar-Taj to find pine needles all over the floor of his study.

“Yeah, I mean, you said you didn’t really celebrate Christmas all that much around here, so I thought…” Tony trails off, looking awkwardly away and fidgeting with the edge of his nano housing. Stephen grins, unabashedly blown away by how much Tony’s done just because of one little thing Stephen had mentioned a couple days ago. They’d been lying in bed, Stephen idly toying with Tony’s hair as Tony rambled on about what he was making Peter for Christmas when Stephen had offhandedly commented that he usually didn’t do much for the holidays, even before he became a sorcerer. Tony had looked just a tad bit too shocked to be doing anything other than taking the piss, and Stephen had just assumed he was messing around when he’d started talking about getting a tree in the Sanctum and having some of their friends over and the whole shebang. Now thinking back, he wonders how he’d missed that glint in Tony’s eye that meant he was coming up with some wild plan and no one could keep him from doing it.

“It’s perfect, Tony,” Stephen says, quick to reassure him. “Thank you.” Tony’s smile is incandescent as he presses closer to Stephen to kiss him again, close enough that Stephen can see the flecks of gold in his eyes and even the colourful reflections of the lights around them. Tony’s grinning when he pulls away, resting his forehead on Stephen’s and whispering a quiet _Merry Christmas. I love you_. They’re still pressed together when the door of the Sanctum bursts open and Peter Parker comes tumbling in, brushing snow out of his hair and looking around him with a delighted laugh.

“Merry Christmas, guys! Woah, it looks awesome in here, Mister Doctor, did you do this?” Stephen grins, the kid’s enthusiasm infectious.

“This was all Tony, I had no say in it. Nor, I suppose, in the party you’re planning?” Peter suddenly looks rather sheepish.

“Wait, how’d you...ooookay, wizards can probably read minds. Uh, well, Mr. Stark said we should have Christmas here instead of at the tower this year, and he told me I could invite a couple people but not too many cause it’d be too much in here, so that’s what I ended up doing…I even got Mr. Wong’s permission, I swear.”

“Stop terrorizing my kid, Strange,” Tony says as he untangles himself from Stephen’s arms to turn and ruffle Peter’s hair, sending snow scattering onto the floor. Stephen can almost hear Wong good-naturedly grumbling about how _‘these floors were here long before you or I were born, Strange, and of course you’re managing to destroy them a little bit more every day.’_

“I’m not _terrorizing_ him, am I, Peter?” Stephen retorts. Peter, quick as ever, nods, wide eyes fixed on Tony.

“No, Mr. Stark, he’s not; I was just letting him know.”

“I know, kid, it’s alright. I’m just messing around. How’d you know I was here, anyway?” Tony says, already wandering off to start winding tinsel around the bannisters from the impressively large pile that Stephen definitely had not noticed before. He glares halfheartedly over his shoulder as Stephen snickers a little at how fast Tony succumbs to the puppy-dog eyes, knowing full well where the kid had gotten them.

“Well, I went to the tower cause I needed some help with my chemistry homework, but Happy told me you were here and then Dr. Banner ended up doing the chem with me, so I decided to just come here and hang out with you guys. Definitely didn’t expect the Christmas explosion, though.”

“Neither did I,” Stephen says. “Looks like Tony’s surprised both of us this time.”

“It looks good, though. Mr. Stark, should we put lights on the tree, you think?”

“Aw, I knew you were on my side, kid!” Stephen mock-sighs as Tony and Peter start discussing the merits of colour-changing lights, but he doesn’t mind admitting to himself that he’s just really, really glad that he gets to have, well, this. His crazy, brilliant boyfriend and his totally not adopted son messing around and dragging Stephen out of the bubble he’s built himself as both a surgeon and as Sorcerer Supreme — seriously, he’s probably laughed more in the last six months than he had in decades.

Soon enough, Tony and Peter rope him into helping them wind light strings, colour-changing as promised, around the bottom of the tree that’s sitting in the foyer. Peter uses webs to secure some of the more temperamental strands to the branches, at one point accidentally managing to web a light string onto Tony’s arm. Tony had thrown the other end of the string back at Peter only to get tag-teamed by him and Stephen, Peter holding Tony in place long enough for Stephen to send lights spinning around him in a rainbow cyclone. The picture that Peter takes of Tony glaring weakly at their fits of laughter, festooned with lights and still unable to hide the grin tugging at the edge of his mouth, becomes Stephen’s lockscreen afterwards.

All three of them, even though Tony and Stephen keep getting distracted and forcing poor Peter to yell at them, hands over his eyes, to stop kissing and hang up more lights, get all the decorating done in less than an hour. Peter leaves a little bit after, saying that he has to go remind everyone that the party’s at the Sanctum instead of the Tower tonight. If he takes a picture of Tony and Stephen kissing in front of the tree, no one needs to know.

“You know, I don’t think I’ve been this excited for a party since my college days,” Tony says later. They’re changed for the party already, Stephen in a maroon sweater that Tony swears brings out his eyes and Tony in Armani, suit jacket hanging over the back of a chair nearby. They’re sitting in the window seat under the Sanctum’s Seal of the Vishanti, Tony dozing off against Stephen’s chest. “Never liked those charity balls and galas and shit, too many people trying to get into my bank account or my pants. Or both,” he adds with a rueful expression. “And everything we did at the Tower ended up with either too many people or someone getting in a fight but...I think this is is gonna be nice.”

“Even with Wilson and Rogers there?” Stephen asks, pressing a kiss to the top of Tony’s head. He’d been hesitant when Tony had decided to send the original rogues invitations, but Tony had reassured him that honestly, after the end of the fucking world he didn’t think anyone had the energy to hate anyone anymore. He certainly didn’t.

“Don’t worry, Nat’ll keep them in line just fine. And maybe, with all the mistletoe I’ve hidden around they’ll finally stop dancing around each other like sixteen-year-olds with crushes.” When Stephen looks down to make sure he isn’t just putting on a brave face, he finds Tony staring out the window with a soft smile on his face. “Stephen look, it’s snowing.”

Indeed it is, big flakes drifting down to stick against the outside of the window and blanket New York in white.

“Look at that. Merry Christmas, Tony.” Tony tilts his head back to look up at him fondly.

“Merry Christmas, Stephen.” And then a shit-eating grin spreads across his face. “Hey, look, mistletoe.”

“You put that there yourself, asshole,” Stephen laughs, leaning down to kiss him anyway.

“Douchebag,” Tony retorts, completely at odds with the way he’s pressing as close to Stephen as he can, not caring that he’s probably wrinkling his very nice suit. Stephen’s about to kiss him again when he’s interrupted by a shout from downstairs.

“Stephen, I’m going to kill your boyfriend!” Stephen looks at Tony, who looks back, and then they both burst into laughter.

“Looks like Wong found the decor.”

* * *

People start trickling in as evening starts falling over the city, and soon enough the party is in full swing. Tony’s ordered most of the food from his favourite places around the city, though Nat brings along some of the weird Russian chocolates that she swears by, and Rhodey carts in a stack of pies courtesy of his mother. He’s standing by the tree, watching a smirking Nat attempt to trick Sam and Steve into standing under the mistletoe scattered around the room and a slightly breathless Bruce explaining the concept of Christmas to an equal-parts confused and smitten Thor. Tony almost wants to not-so-subtly sneak over, shove them under some mistletoe, and run for his life. Just to put poor Bruce out of his misery.

“Hey, Tones, merry Christmas to you,” Rhodey says, sidling up next to him with two flutes of champagne and offering one to him. “Pretty sweet party you’ve got here — your kid was coming around earlier practically knocking doors down reminding us to come.”

“Merry Christmas, honeybear,” Tony says, accepting the champagne and taking a sip before Rhodey’s words sink in. “And Pete isn’t my kid.” Rhodey levels him with an unimpressed look.

“Peter is as much your kid as Strange is your boyfriend, and I am absolutely sure of the second because you put me through so much of your tipsy rambling about his fucking eyes.” Tony looks across the room to see that Peter’s introducing his friend Ned to Stephen, who appears to be showing off some of his magic to the awestruck teenager, and they all look so happy and content that Tony’s bowled over by a rush of so much love for Stephen and Peter that he can’t breathe for a moment. When he looks back at Rhodey, his best friend is looking at him with a suspiciously knowing glint in his eyes.

“You look disgustingly happy, Tones,” he says. “Still not letting that one go, though. If you won’t admit it then I’ll tell him myself and let you clean up the mess.”

“No, no no no, do not do that,” Tony exclaims, waving his arms as if to shoo Rhodey away. “I have _decades_ of dirt on you, Rhodes, don’t you fucking _dare_.” Tony can already see the snarky reply forming on Rhodey’s lips when a smattering of applause and Natasha’s unmistakeable wolf whistle breaks out across the room. He looks up to see Steve and Sam finally under the mistletoe and apparently making up for lost time.

“Get a room, you two!” he shouts, handing his half-full glass back to Rhodey and jogging over. Stephen turns from where Ned is peppering him with questions to snag his arm as he goes by, and Tony will forever deny yelping as he’s yanked into his boyfriend’s arms.

“You’re one to talk,” Stephen says, looking pointedly between Steve and Sam and him.

“You’re the one that accosted me,” Tony retorts.

“Accosted,” Stephen repeats, making quotation marks with his fingers. Tony kisses him to shut him up. When he pulls away he grins up at Stephen and turns to survey the room. Rhodey’s rolling his eyes at him, both champagne glasses mysteriously empty. Thor and Bruce seem to have migrated slightly closer together since he stopped looking at them, and even Wong is over by the dessert table poking through the selection. He doesn’t think Natasha’s smirk is going away anytime soon, and he catches her eye and winks. Steve and Sam have finally broken apart, dopey smiles on both their faces. And Peter, predictably, he thinks, has his phone out filming the whole thing. Tony just knows at least one of them will be a meme by the morning.

“You were right, Tony,” Stephen says. Tony tips his head back to look at him.

“I always am, darling, but about what?” Stephen looks momentarily disgruntled, but kisses Tony’s forehead affectionately.

“This is nice. This is really nice.” Tony looks around at their friends, at the snow still falling, and then back at Stephen.

“It is. Merry Christmas, Steph. I love you.”

“I love you, too, Tony. Merry Christmas.” Outside the snow keeps coming down, and the flakes twinkle golden in the light and laughter shining from the Sanctum’s windows.

**Author's Note:**

> i hope you liked it <3 comments and kudos give me life  
> come find me on [tumblr](https://tconystark.tumblr.com)


End file.
